Pneumatic foot wear



y 1961 s. A. MURAWSKl 2,983,056

PNEUMATIC FOOT WEAR Filed May 12, 1959 26 FIG.4.

A 1 INVENTOR S feven A Murawski United States Patent Office 2,983,056 Patented May 9, 1961 PNEUMATIC FOOT WEAR Steven A. Murawski, 13422 Ave. K, Chicago 33, Ill. Filed May 12, 1959, Ser. No. 812,610

1 Claim. (Cl. 36-29) This invention relates to pneumatic foot wear.

It is the principal object of the present invention to provide a cushioned sole and heel construction for shoes and to thereby make for more comfortable shoes.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a shoe that will give to the wearer a spring to his stride, a feeling of walking on a thick carpet, and a shoe that is easy on the feet.

It is still another object of the invention to provide a cushioned sole and heel formed of layers of perforated material secured to an inner layer extended over the edges of the other layers and adapted to be sewed to the shoe upper for the connection of the sole thereto.

It is another object of the invention to provide a cushioned sole for shoes which can be put on old shoes and as well built into new shoes.

Other objects of the invention are to provide cushioned soles and heels for shoes having the above objects in mind, which is of simple construction, inexpensive to manufacture, has a minimum number of parts, easy to install upon the shoes, light in weight, compact, durable, efiicient and effective in use.

For a better understanding of the invention, reference may be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of a shoe having the cushioned sole and heels of the present invention,

Fig. 2 is a bottom plan view of the sole and heel with portions of the sole broken away to show the transverse perforations therethrough,

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary longitudinal sectional view of the sole as viewed on line 3-3 of Fig. 2, and

Fig. 4 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view of the cushioned heel as viewed on line 4-4 of Fig. 2.

Referring now to the figures, represents a shoe having sole 11 and a heel 12 thereon constructed and secured to its upper 13 according to the present invention. The sole 11 has a top layer or foundation member 14 made of hard synthetic rubber or the like material to which a thick layer 15 of preferably soft live natural rubber is vulcanized and which has transversely-extending large and small holes or perforations 16 and 17 that extend from one side of the sole to and through the other side of the sole. This layer 15 is shock absorbing and gives the principal cushioning elfect desired. Vulcanized to this intermediate layer 15 is a wear layer 18 that is of less thickness than the layer 15 and which is preferably formed of synthetic rubber adapted to withstand long wear. It may also have holes 19 extending transversely therethrough to lighten the weight of the material. These holes may be located adjacent to the side of the layer 18 wherein it is vulcanized to the layer 15. The inner layer 14 may also have small openings 20 adjacent to the side of the inner layer 15 that is vulcanized thereto.

All three layers of the material will be vulcanized together so as to form a one piece construction. The inner 2 layer 14 has its peripheral edge extending outwardly beyond the layers 15 and 18 as indicated at 21 to provide means by which the sole can be attached or sewed to the upper 13 of the shoe 10. r

The heel 12 is similarly constructed and may be secured to the layer 14 in the usual manner in which rubber heels are secured thereto by means of nails 22 extended through holes 23 provided in the heels. The heel 12 is formed of a soft live rubber layer 24 having large and small perforations 25 and 26 extending laterally therethrough and to which a wear layer 27 having perforations 28 and of hard wearing synthetic rubber is added. This layer 27 is vulcanized to the layer 24 as above described. The heel so formed of the two layers 24 and 27 can be secured by nails 22 extending through vertical holes 23 or the heel can be permanently vulcanized or glued to the inner layer 14. It should now be apparent that there has been provided cushioned soles and heels that will give to the soles and heels a cushioned effect and render the shoes less tiresome on the feet and comfortable to wear all day. The holes are of such dimension and number as to provide the soft cushioning elfect and at the same time considerably lighten the weight of the sole or heel. In the heels washers 23' are provided about the holes 23 to keep the nails from passing through the heel. These washers are embedded in and secured to the upper surface of the soft rubber layer 24. The inner layer may run one eighth of an inch thick, the intermediate layer one half of an inch thick and the bottom wear surface approximately three eighths of an inch in thickness.

It will be understood that the soles and heels can be made of any suitable material giving the desired effect for the respective layers and that the same can be made in different sizes and for men, women and childrens shoes. It shall be understood that the soles and heels can be made for use on new shoes as well as for use on old shoes.

While various changes may be made in the detailed construction, it shall be understood that such changes shall be within the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

A laminated pneumatic sole for footwear comprising a relatively thin foundation member of hard synthetic rubber and a ground-engaging member of like material, but of greater thickness, a substantially thick layer of elastic material interposed between and secured to opposed faces of the foundation member and the groundengaging member, said layer of elastic material having a multiplicity of longitudinally spaced openings extending transversely of said layer and being open upon respective sides of said layer and said foundation member and said ground-engaging member having a plurality of spaced transverse openings of lesser diameter adjacent the sides of securement to said layer of elastic material.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,402,872 Langford Jan. 10, 1922 1,498,838 Harrison June 24, 1924 1,596,923 Cooney Aug. 24, 1926 1,961,745 Eekhardt June 5, 1934 2,170,947 Habgood et a1. Aug. 29, 1939 2,237,190 McLeod Apr. 1, 1941 2,323,562 Nugent July 6, .1943 2,467,322 Lightbown Apr. 12, 1949 2,668,789 Phreaner Feb. 9, 1954 2,772,196 Pooley Nov. 27, 1956 

